The Geography of the Puranas c6.3

c6.3

The geographical material of the Purāṇas is mostly contained in their first two books or 'Lakṣaṇas' which deal with cosmogony, cosmology and cosmography. They include, among other related matters, the origin of the universe and the earth, the oceans and the continents, mountain systems of the world, regions and their people and astronomical geography. Incidental references to the geography of different lands, particularly those of Bhārata, occur throughout the Purāṇas in the historical accounts contained in them. One has to put all the isolated facts together to get a picture of the lands and their people to which they refer or which they intended to describe. There are 18 works⁴ which are recognised as mahā (great) Purāṇas.